SHIELS says he may accept the ban but believes it would be 'morally correct' to appeal the decision, which came after a three-hour session at the SFA.

KILMARNOCK boss Kenny Shiels is considering an appeal against a five-match ban that came after a mammoth three-hour session at the SFA yesterday.

The Irishman appeared before compliance officer Vincent Lunny at Hampden and brought two witnesses – assistant Jimmy Nicholl and goalkeeping coach Billy Thomson – as well as video footage to protest his innocence.

But he left with a three-game suspension and another two-game ban suspended until next season, football’s equivalent of being bound over to keep the peace.

Shiels sprinted from Hampden past a waiting television crew and refused to comment on his sentence after his lengthy hearing.

But last night, after a belated Kilmarnock training session, he told Record Sport: “I’ve got five days to lodge an appeal and I’ll be speaking to my chairman at Rugby Park, Michael Johnston, about what to do next.

“It might benefit me to take the hit and serve a suspension that would be over and done with quickly because of the festive programme.

“But I believe it would be morally correct to appeal the decision – and I have my principles.”

Record Sport understands a column Shiels did for this newspaper contributed towards his ban.

The manager said the sending off of his keeper Cammy Bell in a game against Inverness Caley Thistle was wrong and the referee Euan Norris had a chance to show integrity by helping overthrow his original mistake.

The keeper’s ban was quashed but Shiels’ remarks were not forgotten.

However, he was cleared of the charges relating to his own sending off against St Johnstone.

He said: “I wanted to disprove the accusations that were made against me by the Fourth Official that day.

“And I had video evidence as well as the word of my witnesses to back me up.”

Shiels has to decide if he should swallow his pride and get his punishment over and done with or book himself in for another wrangle with the authorities.